Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2)

by Anderson, Holli

  “So… how have you been?” Alec asked. His leg bounced up and down at warp speed.

  Natalie laughed. Not, as I’d expected, the maniacal laugh of the insane. But, a melodic, somewhat nervous laugh that made me think of rain falling on the tin roof of my dad’s tool shed. “How’ve I been? You’ve probably been searching for me your entire life, and the first question you ask is ‘how have you been?’” She smiled. “I’ve been crazy. How have you been?”

  Alec blushed and looked to me for help.

  “Ms. Knight,” I began.

  “Oh, Paige. Please call me Natalie.”

  “Okay. Natalie, it’s wonderful to meet you. You’ll have to excuse Alec, he’s just a little nervous. Would it put you at ease to know that we know about Trey? What he did? Who he was?”

  She looked down at her clasped hands and whispered, “Trey. Yes, he was…” Her eyes glazed over and she stared at nothing.

  Alec cleared his throat. “Umm… Mom… Natalie? I’m sorry. For what he did to you.”

  Her eyes refocused and she looked at Alec. “It wasn’t all bad. In fact, mostly it was wonderful. Except for the losing my mind part. That pretty much ruined my happily ever after. He treated me like a princess… until he left. Just left. No goodbye. That’s the hardest part. No goodbye. I had already started to see them, then. He found out. Then he left.” She spoke in barely a whisper. “I don’t blame him. Crazy is hard to live with.”

  The rage I’d felt about his attempted invasion of my mind—my emotions—erupted anew. “He is to blame, Natalie. It’s his fault your mind is broken. He used you, and so many others, then left you to pick up what was left of the pieces—no super glue in sight.”

  “I don’t understand.” She looked at me, confused. “What others? How is this”—she gestured at her head, hands fluttering—“his fault?”

  I glanced at Jason, standing next to her chair, listening to every word. “He wasn’t what he seemed… what he made you think he was.” I looked at her, intent to make her understand. “He was a monster.”

  She shook her head. “No. He loved me. He was something… but, not a monster, I would have seen it.”

  “It’s not a good idea to talk about monsters with Natalie,” Jason interrupted. “In her world, monsters are real, not just a word used to describe an ex.”

  Monsters are real in your world, too, you just don’t know it.

  Alec took it upon himself to change the subject. “I’m just really glad I found you. It’s good to talk to you and to know you’re alive.”

  Natalie smiled. “You have no idea how good it is to see you. I think about you every day and wonder where you are. What you’re doing.” Her smile turned to a frown. “You probably hate me, don’t you? For leaving you? Where did you go? Who raised you?”

  “I don’t hate you… anymore. I did before I knew better. When the only explanations for why you would have left me were all bad—she didn’t want me, she’s a drug addict, she was a hooker. I understand better now why you abandoned me at the hospital on the day I was born.”

  “Who raised you?” she asked again.

  “A wide variety of foster families for the most part. I left that world behind when I was fifteen and I’ve done a much better job of it on my own.”

  Natalie’s face crumbled. Tears fell from her eyes and trailed down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry. So, so sorry. I had no idea. I thought for sure an adorable baby like you would have been adopted into a loving family. I hoped. I told myself over and over that’s what happened. That you were happy and safe…” A dainty sob escaped her throat.

  “Natalie… Mom. It’s okay, really. The foster homes weren’t that bad. And, I turned out fine. Great, really. I mean, look at me, I’m a stud.”—that brought a brief twitch to her mouth—“Please, don’t cry. I’m not mad at you. I understand more than you know.”

  She took a deep breath. I passed a box of tissues from the coffee table to her. She dabbed at her cheeks and wiped her nose. “You seem to have your father’s confidence, anyway.” I wondered if she was referring to his ‘I’m a stud’ comment. “I’m sure you have many questions for me. Go ahead and ask.”

  Alec looked down at the floor. “Just… I guess… what happened? The night I was born. Why did you take off?”

  “Well, I was scared, mostly. My mind had started to slip a couple of months into the pregnancy. Your… father… had left before I even knew I was pregnant. I think he sensed what was coming, not that I was pregnant, but that my mind was breaking. I started seeing things. Things I knew couldn’t be real.”

  “What kinds of things?” I asked.

  She looked at me and blinked, like she’d forgotten I was even there. “Oh, monsters, mostly. Like the kind Tolkien wrote about. Trolls, Demons, things that slithered out of the sewers and attached themselves like leaches to unwitting people. Wolf creatures with blood dripping from their fangs…” Her voice quieted to a near whisper. “Babies… that weren’t really babies. I could… can… see what they are. But no one else can.” She glanced nervously at the nurse.

  Jason, the nurse, spoke up then. “Her medications help, but, she still has breakthrough hallucinations occasionally. Mostly with other patients or visitors that I don’t really blame her for seeing as monsters.”

  Alec and I both nodded. The nurse’s comment about not blaming her made me want to see one of her monsters. What kind of person evoked this response in her broken mind?

  The silence became awkward as Natalie stared at nothing, trance-like.

  “Umm… Na… Natalie? It’s okay you know, that you see monsters.” Alec’s eyes flicked to Jason then back to his mom. “You aren’t alone.”

  My mind raced with snapshots of some of the monsters I’d seen. Devil Hounds, Trolls, changelings, Goblins, an Ogre… and Brone. Faeries. Trey. Not all monsters were hideous looking creatures.

  A tear slipped from the corner of her eye. She shook her head. “No, Alec. It’s not normal. It’s good that I’m in here. Safer. For others. Not for me because they’re in here, too.”

  “Who Mom? Who’s in here, too?”

  Another sideways glance at the nurse. “Monsters.”

  Alec and I looked at each other.

  “How did you find me?” Natalie asked.

  “I found some stuff, at Trey’s house, that led me here.” Alec pulled the locket out of his pants pocket. “A picture he had matched this one that you left for me at the hospital.”

  She reached for the locket, a look of wonder on her face. “I left this? For you?”

  Alec nodded and handed it to her.

  “I think I remember that. I had you. I held you for a minute then handed you back to the nurse. I was afraid I would hurt you… or you would hurt me. I can’t remember which. Maybe both. The nurse left the room with you and I… I dropped the locket on the bed. I left. I left you there.” More tears fell from her eyes as she opened the locket. “I just had a gown on. Blood running down my legs. That’s all I remember. For a while. That’s all I remember.”

  She rocked back and forth as she looked at the open locket. Alec reached for her hand. “It’s okay, Mom. It’s really okay.”

  She looked up at him and squeezed his hand. “How can you be so forgiving?”

  “I understand. That’s all. I just understand.”

  She handed the locket back to him and wiped her eyes. “Okay. Enough blubbering. Tell me about yourself, Alec. Tell me everything.”

  “Well, I think I’ll save some things for when we have more privacy.” He looked at Jason then back at his mom. “Right now, I’m just traveling with a group of friends, learning stuff.”

  She looked at me. “And, is Paige your girlfriend?” She smiled.

  “No!” We both stated emphatically.

  Alec explained, “We’re just friends. I don’t have a girlfriend.”

  I wondered what Mariah would think of that statement. Natalie got the far-off look in her eyes again. “I’m glad you have friends. It’s good t
o have friends.”

  “Jason,” I said, with my best smile. “What are the chances of having some alone time with Natalie? Do you have to stay in here?”

  He scowled at me. “Yeah. I have to stay in here.”

  I raised both hands, palms out. “Okay, just asking.”

  The rest of the visit consisted of small talk. Alec asked his mom what her days were like, what she did all day. She explained about group therapy, individual therapy, medication times, activities and TV time. The same routine almost every day.

  “Time’s up Natalie. Let’s go back to your room, now.” Jason finally put an end to the visit.

  Natalie stood obediently. “Alec, please come again soon.” She grabbed his hands and squeezed briefly before letting go.

  We followed them out to the common room. There were now several residents or patients or prisoners milling about. Jason turned to us. “Wait here while I take her to her room. I’ll be back in a minute to escort you out.”

  We watched as he led her across the room. She was fine when she passed the first two patients, but as they approached the third one, she looked up and stopped in her tracks, her body stiffened. Jason stopped and lowered his head to say something to her in a soft voice. She shook her head slowly at first, then violently, as she pulled away from Jason’s grip. She screamed and pulled, trying to get out of his grasp.

  “Take down! Call for a take down!” Jason yelled.

  “Dr. Strong to the common room,” the overhead speaker blared. “Dr. Strong to the common room.”

  As guards and nurses rushed in to subdue Alec’s screaming mom, I turned stunned eyes to the man that had set her off.

  t first I just saw a diminutive, balding man. But when my vision cleared and I saw through the camouflage, I knew it wasn’t a man at all. A Ghoul—one of the nastiest creatures of the Netherworld—licked its blood red, thread-thin lips and eyed the developing melee.

  Ghouls are shape shifting Demons that lure people into abandoned places to slay them. They drink the blood and eat the flesh of the dead and then take on the form of the last person they consumed. The worst thing about Ghouls—they often prey on children.

  As Alec rushed in to try to help his mom, I focused on the Ghoul. What I saw was a thin, skeletal being. Gray-toned skin stretched across protruding bones. Where a nose should have been there were just two open cavities. No ears, just holes there, too. The eye sockets were deep, and shadowed eyes peered out from their depths—the eyes glowed red.

  The Ghoul caught me staring and its mouth turned up in a grotesque grin full of sharp, pointy teeth with strings of bloody flesh still stuck between them. Ghouls must not know the positive health benefits of flossing. I shook my head to clear it of such errant thoughts.

  On spindly legs, it took a step toward me. I hesitated, uncertain of what I should do. Alec was getting right in the middle of the chaos that was taking place around his mom and I knew I should stop him before he got banned from ever visiting again. On the other hand, the Ghoul was staring me down and possibly coming for me.

  “Stop!” Alec shouted. “Leave her alone! You don’t need to do this to her, just move her away from that thing!”

  “What thing?” Jason asked, wrestling with Natalie as she attempted to escape her captors.

  “That man. Just move her away from him. She doesn’t need a shot. Just move her away from him. Please.”

  “How do you know what she needs? You just met her today.” The nurse sounded exasperated.

  I decided to chime in before Alec let something slip that he shouldn’t. “Doesn’t it make sense to remove her from the inciting object—or person, as the case may be? Please, just try it. Take her to the far side of the room.”

  A female nurse struggled to hold down one of Natalie’s legs as she tried desperately to scoot away from the Ghoul. She nodded. “It’s a good idea. I’ve done it before with her and it seemed to work.”

  Jason rolled his eyes. “Okay. On three, lift her and move her to the TV corner.”

  As they lifted and Alec followed, I saw movement from the corner of my eye. I turned in time to catch the Ghoul slinking toward the group. One of the female staff members saw him as well. “You stay there George.” She peeled away from the still-screaming Natalie and her entourage, and took a step toward the Ghoul.

  The cadaverous smile widened and drool dripped from its razor-sharp teeth. It moved a step closer to the staff member then bent to pick something up off the floor. My eyes moved to its hand. Clasped in a bony fist was the syringe of medicine that had been meant for Natalie.

  “No, George. Give me that.” The staff member stepped faster to close the remaining distance between herself and the Ghoul.

  The Ghoul retreated, heading for a door that opened into a small room. I had to stop him from luring the nurse away, but I couldn’t just zap him with magic here in front of all of these mentally disturbed people and their caregivers. I ran through all the spells I knew in my mind and stopped on the last one we’d learned. I smiled.

  I didn’t even need to move from where I stood. I noticed peripherally that Natalie’s screams had stopped. I concentrated on the Ghoul, hoping its brain functioned similarly to the Human brain. I found what I was seeking and poured magic into the reeking monster’s hypothalamus. And, I kept pouring. Turning up the heat to incredible heights.

  At first, the spell didn’t seem to affect the Ghoul much. But then, it stopped and stood, head shaking, a confused look in its flame-red eyes. A look of alarm passed over the hideous face next and the syringe dropped to the floor as the Ghoul’s astonished gaze turned to me. Eyes narrowed, it took a shuffling step toward me, gray skin beaded with sweat and red circles appearing on sallow cheeks.

  I smiled wider as my magic surged. The powerful spell was too much for the monster to take. The Ghoul collapsed into convulsions as the heat rose and fried its pathetic brain. I turned the heat up another notch just to make sure.

  The staff member that had been surely heading to her death and likely gruesome take-over of her body ran to the writhing Ghoul she thought of as George. She knelt beside him. “Jason, come here! George is having a seizure!”

  I made sure my smile was gone before I turned to face the crowd gathered around Natalie. Alec sat beside her on the couch, speaking quietly to her as he held her hands in his. She tried to turn her head to see what was going on with the Ghoul, but Alec gently touched her jaw and turned her head to face him.

  I passed Jason as he hurried over to the now still Ghoul. I stood next to the couch where Alec and his mother sat. The other staff members rushed over to the prostrate Ghoul when Jason loudly called over his shoulder, “Call a code, he isn’t breathing.”

  They forgot all about Natalie and us as they tried fruitlessly to revive the brain-fried Netherworld Nasty.

  Alec looked up at me. “What did you do?”

  “Yes, what did you do?” Natalie whispered. “I saw you glowing. You glowed. The monster died.”

  I nodded. I felt like she needed to know that what she saw—what she sees—was real. That we saw it, too, and could help. “I thought he looked cold, so I heated him up. Who knew? Ghouls have hypothalamuses, too.”

  Alec laughed. “You are the bomb, Paige. The total bomb.”

  “Ghoul?” Natalie looked from me to Alec. “You saw it, too? You saw the monster?”

  Alec nodded. “Yes, Mom. We can see them, too. And, we can kill them. You aren’t as crazy as you think you are.”

  She shook her head. “My mind is broken. The monsters aren’t the only thing that brought me here. I see them even with my eyes closed sometimes. My mind is broken, jagged. Shards of insanity that pierce what’s left of who I am.” She stared off into nothingness again.

  Alec looked up at me, unsure how to respond. I shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t know how to respond to that either. Sometimes staying silent is a person’s best bet.

  “Thank you Paige. That one was super nasty.” Natalie shuddered.

 
; The crowd surrounding the unmoving—and dead—Ghoul grew as doctors and nurses rushed in with a big cart and performed CPR. Luckily they had one of those bag things and no one had to do mouth-to-mouth. I’m sure I would have puked at that sight—I almost puked at the thought. They connected him to a heart shocking machine and tried that a couple of times. Within about ten minutes, the physician pronounced the Ghoul dead. A few more minutes passed before anyone remembered we were still there.

  The young nurse that had been the potential next victim of the Ghoul came to us. I decided almost instantly that I liked her. She knelt down in front of Natalie and looked her in the eyes as she asked with a southern accent, “Are you okay, Miss Natalie?”

  Natalie smiled. “Better than I’ve been for a while, actually. Thank you, Danielle.”

  “Good. Let’s get you back to your room. It’s time for night meds.” She smiled at me and Alec then helped Natalie up and led her away.

  Natalie stopped before they disappeared down a hallway. She turned and sought out Alec. When they made eye contact she said, “Please come see me again… son.” She gave a small wave before continuing down the hall.

  The corner of Alec’s mouth twitched up into a half smile.

  Jason extracted himself from the now dissipating crowd around George and strode over to us. “Sorry you had to witness that. I’ll escort you out now.”

  He led us through the security doors and back out to the front lobby where Heather sat behind the thick glass window. She hit the intercom button. “Alec, how did it go?”

  He smiled. “It was great. Thank you so much for all your help. When can I come visit her again? How often can I come see her? We have a lot of catching up to do.”

  “Usually, with new patients, you can only come twice a week… but, Natalie isn’t a new patient, it’s just new for her to have visitors. So, if you want to come back tomorrow, I’ll find out if you can come more than two days.”